Re: remarkable recent stories

["James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>]

  Vladimir, 
 
 
  On 01 16 96 you wrote: 
 
    I haven't seen much dialogue on...key things that have 
    popped up recently.... 
 
 
  Among those key things: 
 
    the absolute biggest blockbuster of them all: the NSA... 
    did a study about how crypto regulations affect US com- 
    petitiveness in the international marketplace.... 
 
   
  And you ask: 
 
    why would they release *this* one?
 
  meaning the NSA study on how crypto regulations affect 
  US competitiveness abroad. 
 
 
  On 01 13 96 I wrote a message to the list headed "ITAR 
  Re-write?"   In it I attempt to answer your question. 
 
  I include it below for your convenience. 
 
 
  Cordially, 
 
  Jim 
 
 
 
  INCLOSURE: 
 
  Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 05:04:52 -0500 (EST)
  From: "James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
  To: cypherpunks@toad.com
  Subject: ITAR Re-write ? 

 
 
  Friend, 
 
 
  Bloomberg, the business news agency, reports 01 12 96: 
 
     The U.S. Commerce Department will recommend easing 
     export controls on encryption software after a study by 
     the department and the National Security Agency found 
     that American firms are being hurt.... 
 
     The report's release came on the same day federal pro- 
     secutors dropped a three-year investigation...of...Philip 
     Zimmerman.... 
 
     The government study comes a week after [the Computer 
     Systems Policy Project] released [its] own study showing 
     ...American companies will lose [maybe $60 billion] in 
     U.S. computer system sales expected in 2000.... 
 
 
  The 13-member Project 
 
     ...includes International Business Machines...and AT&T.... 
 
 
  Perhaps the let-go of Zimmerman is less a triumph of right 
  than of might? 
 
  But economic might is not the only kind of might: 
 
     [Easing export controls] may pit Brown's department a- 
     gainst U.S. defense and spy agencies.... 
 
 
  So... 
 
     [Commerce Secretary] Brown said his department will pre- 
     pare recommendations for easing [ITAR] controls that 
     should be forwarded to the president "within a few months." 
 
 
  Meaning: the 13 Project members should be prepared to pay 
  through the nose in the runup to the '96 gala. 
 
  And just so they get the big picture: 
 
     It's unclear if the NSA, the super-secret eavesdropping 
     agency, endorsed the Commerce Department's conclusions 
     in the report it jointly prepared. 
 
 
  The newsstory reports 
 
     ...federal prosecutors dropped [the Zimmerman] investiga- 
     tion without explanation.... 
 
 
  No explanation's required.  One hostage was released.  13 
  others were taken.  But the one release does afford the new 
  hostages, who have deep pockets, some hope... 
 
 
  Cordially, 
 
  Jim 
 
 
 
  NOTE.  The newsstory's headline?  COMMERCE'S BROWN 
  PROPOSES REWRITE OF ENCRYPTION EXPORT CONTROLS. 
  Its dateline?  WASHINGTON (Jan 12, 1996 5:34 p.m. EST). 
  Its Nando News online filename?  biz6_1893.html